


Memory

by GaneWhoo



Series: Supercat prompts and Co [9]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F, No Fluff, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 05:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10210703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaneWhoo/pseuds/GaneWhoo
Summary: “You remind me of someone, young man.”She’s looking at him with a very slight frown between her clouded eyes, concentration etched across her features. The crinkle and creases of her face move every time she speaks but she’s still beautiful, even with the weight of all those years cracking her pale skin.“Oh? Who was he?”She seems confused for a moment but then, an easy smile graces her lips and she whispers something he doesn’t hear. For a split-second, it’s like everything is back to normal.Then, the moment is gone and the look in her eyes becomes dull and bland again.---They didn’t see it coming.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [racheltuckerrr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/racheltuckerrr/gifts).



“You remind me of someone, young man.”

She’s looking at him with a very slight frown between her clouded eyes, concentration etched across her features. The crinkle and creases of her face move every time she speaks but she’s still beautiful, even with the weight of all those years cracking her pale skin.

“Oh? Who was he?”

She seems confused for a moment but then, an easy smile graces her lips and she whispers something he doesn’t hear. For a split-second, it’s like everything is back to normal.

Then, the moment is gone and the look in her eyes becomes dull and bland again.

—

They didn’t see it coming.

—

The first one to notice something was a little off is Alex.

—

She’s almost 58 and she’s just resigned from her position as Director of the DEO when she begins to spend more time with Cat, because she feels lonely.

Maggie is the captain of her own precinct and still five years away from retirement and the two kids they had adopted together are already all grown up and busy with their life, not really around anymore. Kara is busy too being the new CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media. She stepped in when Cat Grant officially resigned a few years ago and she’s still working as National City’s superhero.

She thinks most of her friends are way now, like Lucy Lane who is working as the Secretary of State for the new president of the United States, James Olsen who took over Perry White’s position at the Daily Planet and Winn Schott, who launched his startup after leaving the DEO when they failed to protect his alien girlfriend. She still sees them once or twice a year but it’s not the same anymore.

It’s never been the same, after Hank’s disappearance.

She’s still bitter about that day, seventeen years ago, when she found the letter he left her. He wrote that his work at the DEO and with the Danvers sisters was done and he wished her a good, happy, fulfilled life. No explanation, nothing to justify why he just vanished from their life.  
She had been appointed new Director of the DEO the exact same day.

It’s been years and now she’s retired and lonely. Which is why she starts spending time with Cat Grant, of all the people she knows.

—

Cat and Kara never got married and they never had kid.

They’re living together for what seems to be forever and it’s just the way it is, natural and easy.

It took Alex almost two years to really, really warm up to the queen of all media but eventually, they became some kind of friends. It’s a strange relationship and even they don’t know exactly where they stand and how to qualify it but it’s comfortable and healthy.

Cat aged, year after year, where Kara stayed stuck in what Cat called the millennial look.

They never talk about it.

—

Alex notices the blank looks and the lost frowns first.

She spends most of her time at the beach house with Cat and they joke about being some kind of weird Grace and Frankie, except they’re all gay and their respective girlfriends are not hot for each-other and about to move in together.

She doesn’t think much of it. After all, Cat is about to turn 75 and she’s allowed to be a little less sharp than she used to be.

Carter shows up sometimes, with his husband and their 3 years old daughter. It’s one happy family and Alex is always emotional when she sees them together. She can’t wait to be a grandmother too.

Then, Cat starts to forget things.

The name of a celebrity, the title of a book, the scientific designation of a flower, where she’s put her glasses and things like that. It’s nothing and Alex just helps her out every time.

She often stays for dinner with Cat and Kara and she still swoons at how in love they are. It’s a little odd to see Kara, looking so young and bright, kiss a woman who could easily be mistaken for her grandmother but she sees the way they look at each other and the strange feeling goes away.

When Cat starts confusing names and periods of time, Alex realizes something’s not right.

—

She tries to talk to Kara about it but her sister just brush it off.

She doesn’t insist.

Maybe it’s just age, finally kicking in Cat’s sharp and bright mind.

—

She’s catching up with their daughter Lizzie when Maggie calls her, at 4PM on a Monday.

“Alex, I can’t reach Kara. Something happened …”

She knows it’s about Cat before Maggie even begins to explain.

—

The diagnosis breaks Kara.

—

Each day takes memories away.

She doesn’t recognize Alex and the older Danvers feels her heart shatters all over the place every time she’s meet with the confusion in Cat’s green eyes.

—

She’s here when Cat asks Kara about the picture of them holding Lizzie in their arms.

It’s a beautiful shoot Maggie snapped when Alex first handed the little girl to her sister. Kara’s smile is incredibly shy but so bright and full of life and Cat’s one is almost matching, they look happy and amazed.

Cat asks who is the little girl.

Alex sees Kara turns away to hide the tears she can’t hold back.

—

It’s 3AM when her insistent ringtone finally pulls her out of her deep slumber. She hears Maggie groan next to her and it makes her smile but then she sees Kara’s name and she picks up.

“She doesn’t know who I am.”

The voice is desperate and Alex can hear every single one of the emotion her baby sister is feeling.

She remembers the lost little alien a man in a blue suit and a red cape just bought to her when she was just a teenager. That new, strange little girl had the same voice, lost and small and with indescribable loss echoing in every word she pronounced.

Kara was losing her whole world again.

—

Cat is a stranger now.

Kara finally relents and agrees to put her in a specialized house where professional would take care of her.

Alex goes with her and it breaks her heart when Cat acts all bossy and demanding with everyone else, just like she used to when she was running her media empire.

The worst part happens when Cat snaps at some young girl with a ponytail and a pair of glasses that had failed to bring her the right brand of water.

“Really Keira, your incompetence is beyond salvation by now.”

Kara starts sobbing, uncontrollably.

—

Carter looks at his mom and everything hurts.

She doesn’t recognize him anymore. He is the last memory to go because where she had forgotten all about Alex, about Kara, about Supergirl and everyone else in her life, she could still remember him.

Now, she doesn’t and he fights back the sob that’s been caught in his throat since he entered the room, two hours ago.

“I’m going to go now. I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”

She doesn’t even look at him and he has to clench his jaw to keep the tears at bay.

“Bye mom. I love you.”

He stands up and lands a kiss on his mother’s temple before walking away.

He’s almost out of the bedroom when he hears it. It’s barely a whisper but he knows it’s real.

“I love you too, Sweetheart.”

He’s crying when the door closes behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry guys. 
> 
> Go blame the person I gifted the fic to, for all that angst. The title is a song from Barbra Streisand but I also got inspired by _Supermarket Flowers_ , from Ed Sheeran's new album.
> 
> You are allowed to yell at me on tumblr **lost-your-memory**


End file.
